Robert Lowry -
Lyrics &
Composer
1826-1899
Born: March 12, 1826, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Died:
Buried: Hillside Cemetery, Plainfield, New Jersey.
HYMN
HISTORY:
"Alleluia, He is Risen"
"Alleluia,
He is Risen Indeed!"
I you had been living during the early Christian Era, this undoubtedly would have
been your greeting to one another, as believers, on a Resurrection Sunday. For the
past century, however,
many evangelical churches have celebrated this triumphant day and been inspired
anew, with the singing of this beloved hymn, written and composed by Robert Lowry in
1874.
Robert Lowry is a highly respected name among early, gospel hymn writers. He was
born in Philadelphia, on March 12, 1826. At the age of seventeen, he accepted Christ
as his personal Savior and
later was graduated from Bucknell University with high scholastic honors, in 1854.
Lowry served as a professor of Literature at this University, from 1869-1875' and
received his doctorate degree from that institution.
Lowry's first pastorate was the West Chester baptist Church near Philadelphia, after
which he served important Baptist pastorates in New Jersey, New Your City, and
Brooklyn. Robert Lowry continued an active,
Christian ministry, until his home coming in 1899, at the age of
seventy-three.
Throughout his ministry, Lowry was recognized as a most capable minister of the
gospel, possessing keen insight and administrative ability. He became known as a
through Bible scholar and a brilliant and captivating orator;
few preacher of his day had greater ability to paint word pictures and to inspire a
congregation. Music and a knowledge of hymnology were his favorite studies, but
always as an avocation.
Although Lowry wrote a number hymns and tunes and published many songbooks, his main
interest throughout life was preaching God's Word.
When often asked about his method for writing songs, Lowry answered in this
way:
I have no set method.
Sometimes the music comes and the words follow... I watch my moods, and when
anything strikes me, weather words or music,
no matter where I am, at home, or on the street, I jot it down... My brain is
sort of a spinning machine, for there is music running through it all the time.
The tunes of nearly all the hymns I have written have been completed on paper,
before I tries them on the organ. Frequently, the words of the hymn and the
music have been written at the same time.
And so it was with "Christ
Arose." During spring of 1874, while having his devotions one evening, Robert Lowry
was impressed with the events associated with
Christ's resurrection, especially with these words recorded in Luke 24:6-8.
He is not here, but is
risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The
Son of man must be delivered into the hands of
sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered
his words.
Soon Robert Lowry found
himself seated at the little pump organ in the parlor of his home, and, in a very
spontaneous fashion, there came forth the music
and the words, giving expression to the thoughts that had been uppermost in his
mind. The hymn was first published, in 1875, in the collection, Brightest and Best,
edited by William H. Doane and Robert Lowry.
The hymn's verses and refrain depict a vivid contrast between the moods of death and
resurrection. Though not indicated on the page, the verses should be sung
deliberately with a vigorous tempo employed for the refrain.